HTC Releases Red HTC One on Sprint

HTC has finally released the Red HTC One, this phone has been rumored to be available for many months and was originally rumored to be released alongside the rest of the Silver and Black HTC Ones. The disappointing thing was that many etailers thought that they would get a Red one for launch, but it never materialized. And then again, it popped up and everyone thought that this was the HTC One for Verizion (which still hasn’t come out) and nothing happened once again.

And then, today, we finally have confirmation from HTC that they have released the Red HTC One. In terms of hardware and functionality, this phone is no different than the Black or Silver HTC Ones that have been selling quite well since April. However, the only difference other than color is the fact that the Red HTC One will be available in the US exclusively for Sprint and Sprint’s LTE network. Since Sprint isn’t GSM, it won’t be easy to port over to AT&T or T-Mobile if bought outright. I did that with the Nokia Lumia 1020 that we are currently testing and I must say the process was quite easy. Since you’l be stuck on Sprint with this phone, you really have to decide whether or not the color is really worth being on America’s worst network.

Sprint is really trying to change themselves, and I think that the finalization of the Softbank acquisition will make things move along more quickly, but I won’t give them praise until they fix the multitude of coverage issues and lack of interesting devices. Getting exclusivity on a Red HTC One won’t help solve Sprint’s problems, especially if it retails for $199, the same price as all of the other HTC One devices have debuted at. Not to mention, the HTC One Max will likely be coming soon and that will most likely also carry a $199 pricetag. Releasing a Red HTC One 4 months after the initial launch may be problematic for sales and is more of an indication of HTC’s own problems more than anything. They really should’ve made them available much sooner, because I know a few people that would’ve jumped the gun on the One if the Red one existed at or near launch.